Men threaten to boycott next Australian Open

Roger Federer to lead players’ fight for improved prize money for early round losers at the majors

Federer is fighting for higher pay for players in the lower reaches of the circuit (Stefan Wermuth)

NEXT January’s Australian Open is facing a boycott by the world’s leading male
players, who are fighting for a bigger percentage of Grand Slam revenues to
be paid in prize money.

Last year’s US Open became a battleground in the struggle between the players
and Grand Slam officials over the thorny issue — and now the threat of a
boycott by the ATP world tour’s players is looking increasingly more likely.

At the top of the agenda at a mandatory meeting for all ATP world tour players
in New York last night was the growing pressure to stage a mass boycott of
the Australian Open, which, by virtue of both finance and geography, is the
least strong of the four majors. Feelings are running high and fines for
non-attendance at the meeting were set on a sliding scale, with any top 10
player who stayed away without a decent explanation being